A blog on the current crises in the Middle East and news accounts unpublished by the US press. Daily timeline of events in Iraq as collected from stories and dispatches in the French and Italian media: Le Monde (Paris), Il Corriere della Sera (Milan), La Repubblica (Rome), L'Orient-Le Jour (Beirut) and occasionally from El Mundo (Madrid).

Saturday, April 02, 2005

2 April 2005 Events in Iraq

Baghdad. Dozens of insurgents attacked Abu Ghraib prison outside Baghdad on Saturday, detonating two suicide car bombs and firing rocket-propelled grenades at U.S. forces before the assault was repelled, the U.S. military said. At least 20 U.S. soldiers were wounded in the fighting, which lasted around an hour, a U.S. officer said. At least 12 detainees were also wounded, some severely. It was not known how many insurgents were wounded or killed.

Ft. Carson. Preliminary hearing for three soldiers charged with murder and dereliction of duty in the death of Maj. Gen. Abed Mowhoush on Nov. 26, 2003. A fourth soldier faces the same charges but waived a hearing. During the interrogation, Army prosecutors claim Mowhoush was put headfirst into a sleeping bag, wrapped with electrical cord and knocked down before the soldiers sat and stood on him, prosecutors said. The cause of death was determined to be suffocation. The defendants — Chief Warrant Officers Lewis Welshofer and Jefferson Williams, Sgt. 1st Class William Sommer and Spc. Jerry Loper — have all denied wrongdoing, saying commanders had sanctioned their actions. The military closed the hearing to the public shortly after it began in December, but The Denver Post successfully sued to open it, and the proceeding concluded this past week in open court. The transcript was released Thursday and posted on the Internet. Fort Carson's commander, Maj. Gen. Robert Mixon, will decide whether the soldiers are court-martialed, after he receives a recommendation from the investigating officer, Capt. Robert Ayers. No timetable was set. [There are 10,000 prisoners in overcrowded condtions in Abu Ghraib now. We can imagine the continuing mistreatment--Nur]

19:32 Khan Bani Sad. Booby-trapped car explodes after police attempted to inspect it. Four police and one civilian were killed when a booby-trapped car detonated. Meanwhile, a second car bombing occurred in Mosul, wounding 6, including one child.

12:05 Ramadi. US soldier killed. A Marine died from a gunshot wound in Ramadi.

10:03 Baghdad. Education ministry employeed assassinated. An official of the Education ministry in Sadr City, Ibrahim Abid Wali, was approached by armed and assassinated.